This Just In...

The GPN editorial staff returned from OFA Short Course in Columbus, Ohio, just as this issue was getting ready to go to the printer. Our September issue will have a wrap-up of many of the things we saw and heard while we were at Short Course, but I wanted to let you know about a couple of the highlights.

2009 GPN/Nexus Intern of the Year

During Short Course, Nexus Corp.’s Mike Porter and I presented Paul Jemison with the 2009 GPN/Nexus Intern of the Year Award. Paul was recognized for the comprehensive four-month internship that he did at Molbak’s Greenhouse and Nursery in 2008.

This month he is entering his final semester at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kan., where he is majoring in horticulture with a specialization

in greenhouse management. With graduation just around the corner, Paul is getting ready to enter the working world and currently is looking for a job in the industry.

In case you missed the article about Paul’s internship in our January issue, go to our website, www.gpnmag.com[1], and search for “Paul Jemison.”

Next month, we will be announcing our “call for interns” for the 2010 GPN/Nexus Intern of the Year.

GPN/OFA Sustainability Progress Award

GPN and OFA — an Association of Horticulture Professionals — also announced at Short Course that Van Wingerden Greenhouses in Blaine, Wash., was the winner of the 2009 GPN/OFA Sustainability Progress Award.

Stay tuned because next month GPN will feature an article on the efforts Mike Van Wingerden and his crew have made as they continue on their journey toward a sustainable future.

We Did It Again

The day after the editorial staff returned from Short Course I also received word that GPN had won a 2009 Tabbie Award for Best Single Issue. GPN’s September 2008 issue was honored for its overall editorial and design quality as well as our ability to fulfill our editorial charter. GPN has now won three Tabbie Awards for editorial excellence in the last five years.

The Tabbie Awards are presented by Trade Association and Business Publications International (TABPI). More than 500 submissions from around the world were received for this year’s competition.

Awards are always nice, but it is our goal each month simply to provide readers like you with a publication that will help you do your job. You and the Tabbie Awards judges keep telling us that is what we are doing, so that is what we will continue to do!